By Rick West

While most attention at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights event was focused on the Saw franchise in 2009, the one project that was by far, the most exciting to me personally was Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers. My favorite horror film of all time is the original Halloween, which has been thrilling me as a genre fan since seeing it as a little boy sometime around 1980. I must have seen it on television - HBO or one of the other movie networks - because I did not see it in the theater; I wouldn't encounter Michael on the big screen until my grandfather took me to see Halloween 2 in San Bernardino, when it opened in 1981.

I grew up a true Halloween fan and have watched it every year for as long as I can remember on Halloween night, once all of the festivities are over with; kind of a "closing ceremony" to my favorite holiday. It's my own little ghoulish tradition.

So, when it was announced that John Murdy and his team at Universal Studios Hollywood would be creating a Halloween maze for Halloween Horror Nights, you can imagine my delight. And at the same time, I was also concerned with how true to its roots Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers would be, given Murdy's personal friendship with musician/filmmaker Rob Zombie, who "re-envisioned" Halloween in 2007 and subsequently, Halloween 2 in 2009. Zombie's Halloween was actually not half bad... I watched it through very cynical glasses and was almost sure going in that I would be sorely disappointed; I actually thought much of his version of the horror classic was very well done. And then on the flip-side of that, was appalled by Zombie's self-indulgent, pure piece of candy corn-laden crap labeled as Halloween 2.

Fortunately, John Murdy is a die-hard Halloween fan - John Carpenter's Halloween, that is. Murdy made it very clear early on to everyone that this maze would be his homage to the original Halloween films. In fact, Murdy is such a fan of the original series that he even told us in the beginning that he was incorporating some Halloween III: Season of the Witch love into the maze. At the time, we were wondering how that would work, since Halloween III has nothing to do with Michael Myers. We'd get our answer soon enough.

Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers was one of the first mazes we got a sneak-preview of during the 2009 construction of the Halloween Horror Nights attractions. As an added bonus for those of you who are die-hard HHN fans, Theme Park Adventure is pleased to present the MP3 of our walk-through with John Murdy of the Halloween maze at Universal Studios Hollywood as part of our coverage. The file was never intended for production-quality, but we figure rather than let it digitally rot away, fans should be able to share and hear John's walk-through from that September afternoon last summer. It's unedited, not re-mastered, but it is definitely clear for the most part and is as close as we can get you all to your own personal tour of Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers with designer John Murdy; we hope you enjoy it, if you so choose! Click here for the MP3 of our preview tour of HHN's Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers.

The "secret weapon" of Halloween Horror Night's success is the raw dedication of John Murdy, who oversees every last detail of the event. He himself is a huge fan of the horror genre; he's not just some suit stuffed away in an office at Universal, nor is he an artist that has simply risen to the rank of Creative Director without actually having a sincere passion for the event or its contents. No - John is just like many of us; hard-core horror fans that grew up with these films, with these icons. These movies, slashers and moments that we all love live and thrive in Murdy's heart and imagination. He is able to take these things that made such a huge impression on him and share them on a large scale with the public.

Self-serving? Perhaps. However, as a true horror fan, you can bet that whatever John decides to focus on for any given Halloween Horror Nights attraction, it will be done with true passion and an unwavering drive for perfection. And in doing so, he will thrill thousands and thousands of other horror fans that flock to Universal each October. Such was the case with Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers.

The detailing of this maze was second-to-none. From the incredible Myers house facade to the small details that only the most dedicated fans could have picked up on, such as The Thing being played on the television in the Myers house, John's attention to detail on this particular project was nothing short of staggering. He insisted on having everything as accurate as possible - from the Jack-O-Lanterns found throughout the maze to the butcher knife that Michael wields. Nothing that Universal uses for its mazes is off-the-shelf; at least not when it's something that needs to be accurate. Case in point, at least 8 different designs for Michael's mask passed by John for approval before one finally got the green light. It was a tedious, detailed project. But it's that very specific, dedicated focus on authenticity that brings a sense of realism and professionalism to Halloween Horror Nights that you simply don't find anywhere else, frankly. One of the things that sets Universal's Halloween Horror Nights event apart from other haunts is that the company doesn't simply write out a large check to the Halloween Superstore for tons of masks and latex props; most of what you see at HHN is home-made, just as you'd expect from a movie studio. And we love that.

Another really exciting aspect about the Halloween maze was that it had never been done before anywhere, professionally. It took some serious networking through John's friend, Rob Zombie and the guardian of the Michael Myers rights, Malek Akkad, to bring Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers to Universal Studios Hollywood. It was no simple task, and it was something that John had actually wanted to do for a while. The time was right, the contacts were perfect and John received a thumbs-up to proceed, which he did with gusto.

While other maze properties at Halloween Horror Nights are typically blood-soaked nightmares, Halloween was different, in that the film itself isn't all that gory. Granted, there were a few scenes incorporated into the maze that were graphic - but in general, Halloween was nowhere near as bloody as say, the Saw maze. Due to its fairly bloodless roots, John Murdy relied on the same fear factor that the Halloween films (especially the first) did. The maze was packed full of very spooky visuals, lots of pop-out scares and some downright intense moments such as walking down the hallway toward young Michael's closed door as brilliant light spilled from behind it.

Scents were employed in Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers, just as they are in all Halloween Horror Nights mazes. In this particular maze, John piped in the scent of raw sewage into the Smith's Grove Sanitarium section of the maze. This decision was based on experience, as Murdy used to visit a sanitarium often as part of a delivery job he had as a teen; the smell of sewage backed-up seared itself into John's memory - which is what was manifested into the Halloween maze. As guests left the Myers house and transitioned to the Sanitarium, they passed through an outdoors, woodsy area, where the scent of pine trees was abundant. These sensory tricks really added to the maze, and transported us all exactly where John wanted us.

In a Halloween maze, there obviously had to be more to it than just a million Michaels popping out... so in a genius move, John added extra talent throughout the maze dressed as the trick-or-treaters from Halloween III - the witch, Jack-O-Lantern and skeleton. These extras popped out from behind trees, slammed their hands on windows and totally added a fantastic element to the maze. Again, these masks were also custom-made to be as identical to the ones in the film as possible. Kudos to John and the team for this - awesome touch!

Though Michael never spoke in the maze (at least not the adult Michael as "The Shape"), there were other actors that did a fine job keeping in character such as Dr. Sam Loomis, who warned guests of the evil that was Michael. The actors that played Loomis even looked like him - which is something that Murdy was very proud of. According to John, one of the Loomis actors was told that he could have the job if he shaved his head - which he did! Now that's dedication on a whole new level!

Perhaps the single most striking moment in the maze was the famous "Ghost Michael" scene when the sheet-wearing Myers takes out a scantily-clad actress playing the character Lynda van der Klok by strangling her on a bed with a phone cord wrapped around her neck. I have to say, I have never seen a scene in any haunt maze anywhere that had such a powerful delivery over and over by its talent. The guys and gals that brought this scene to life did it with enthusiasm and absolutely kick-ass realism that truly bordered on shocking. We watched for quite a while as guest after guest stopped in their tracks and gaped in shock and horror as Michael strangled Lynda on the bed. To anyone and everyone in that scene... huge TPA kudos to you - wow, wow, WOW! What an absolute triumph!

The exit of the maze was very clever - to escape Michael and the horrors of Halloween Night 1978, guests had to exit through the closet from the also-famous scene in which Michael has Laurie Strode cornered in a bedroom. Deeper and deeper into the closet we went until finally, we found ourselves outside of the maze.

John Murdy hit a huge home run with Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers; in my opinion, it was hands-down the best thing at Halloween Horror Nights 2009. The attention to detail was absolutely nuts and the execution of the linear story line just about perfect. Most iconic scenes were faithfully re-created and while there was some blood, it wasn't a gore fest. Yeah, there was a water gag incorporated into the maze, which I personally am not at all a fan of - but it wasn't terrible in this case (the scene where Michael pegs Lynda's boyfriend, Bob, to the wall with a butcher knife). Like the film it paid tribute to, Halloween: The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers was heavy on visual terror and suspense.

Thank you to John and the men and women in the maze and behind the scenes for bringing Halloween to life for all of us Myers fans! It was a fantastic attraction and one that will go down as one of Halloween Horror Night's best ever.

Years from now, whenever we look back on HHN 2009 and someone asks if there was some sort of boogeyman maze... we'll smile and say, "As a matter of fact... it was."

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